How Danny Heard The Tape
by cojiesmama
Summary: When Mac visits Danny at the hospital in RSRD, he said that Lindsay told him that Danny heard the tape. This is my take on how Lindsay had Danny listen to Louie Messer's conversation with Sonny Sassone


At the end of the room lay Louie Messer, hooked up in tubes, his breathing mechanical and calculated, as if he was no longer human. His face, badly beaten by his former Tanglewood friend Sonny Sassone, was all bloated and in different shades of red and black and blue. At the other end of the room sat his little brother, one of NYPD's finest, Danny Messer. How ironic that everything he had learned at the academy, all his contacts with the powers that be, had not helped save his brother from getting beaten half to death.

Danny looked like he himself was in a coma. He is way beyond anger now, going into denial, thinking that his brother will just wake up tomorrow, all better. His body, like his mind, seemed to be tuning out as well. He had neither eaten nor slept for the past twelve hours. All he wanted was a sign that Louie was going to be all right.

Like a faint light at the end of a dark tunnel, Danny saw a familiar woman with a familiar, tomboyish gait. When Lindsay Monroe saw that Danny had seen her coming up the hall, she gave an awkward smile.

"I brought you a sandwich" Lindsay stopped by door, as if waiting to be invited in.

"Thanks but…. I'm not really hungry". Danny pulled a seat next to him. Lindsay sat next to him after a beat.

"No change huh". Lindsay whispered.

Danny turned to her, half-smiling. "I know it's inappropriate to joke at a time like this, but when we were teenagers, Louie used to tell me that his dream job was to be part of a sleep experiment. You know, be paid to sleep. It's almost ironic."

Lindsay chuckles a bit. Danny turns to her and looks at her smiling. Somehow, twelve hours of no food and no sleep were quenched by a single smile from her.

"Mac is running around town looking for Sonny Sassone. We're going to get this guy no matter what." Lindsay's soothing voice was such a welcome change to the cold, dark room.

"I'm completely confused, you know." Danny slouches on his chair. "One moment, your brother gets you into trouble, almost costs you your job, the next moment, he's lying in a coma, and you can't be mad at him anymore". Danny lets out a little laugh. "It's so like him, Louie. Now I have to forgive him"

Lindsay looks down at her purse. "Well, I guess this will make it easier for you to forgive him". She produces a tape recorder from her bag.

"What's this?" Danny asks.

"Sonny Sassone didn't seek out Louie, Danny. Louie sought him"

Lindsay plays the tape recorder:

LOUIE:Sonny Sassone..

SONNY:How's it goin' Louie?

LOUIE: I'm alright… Listen, they found that kid in the hole we dug at the Stadium's end zone. They got my brother Danny for this. You know I sent him out because I knew what you were planning

SONNY:I know, it was just the three of us, you, me and Salvo. So what?

LOUIE:Their trying to pin this on Salvo…

SONNY: You know Salvo had nothing to do with this, he was up all night crying and throwing up. It was me who turned the lights off for that sucker. Plain and simple mafia style.

Danny stared at his brother in disbelief. The realization of what he thought had happened all those years ago started to sink in like a slowly escalating fever. All this time, he had harbored angry thoughts against his brother for pushing him away. How could he have known that he was trying to save him?

Lindsay saw Danny's face quivering. She touched his hand lightly, and Danny turned to her. Danny realized, too, that if Mac had his way, he would wrap up the case first and then had Danny listen to the tape. He knew Mac didn't know about this. He knew Lindsay broke protocol to be here….. for him.

"Mac's going to flip out if he finds out…" Danny almost stutters.

Lindsay smiled "Forget it, I'll take care of it." Danny took both of Lindsay's hands in his and started to tear up.

"I just thought you needed to hear that" Lindsay whispered.

"Thank you" was all Danny could say.

Lindsay took off his glasses and wiped the tears from his face. It was then that Danny knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he was in love with Lindsay.


End file.
